


Distractions

by TheStraggletag



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Storybrooke AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25947241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStraggletag/pseuds/TheStraggletag
Summary: Belle French was known in Storybrooke as a respectable person who did not help her friends steal or make out with people in the middle of the street.Until now.
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Comments: 27
Kudos: 140





	Distractions

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this prompt: https://rumbelleprompts.tumblr.com/post/626575773118152705/belle-is-unable-to-stop-a-drunk-ruby-from-sneaking

“This is theft. You know this, right? You want me to help you steal.”

Ruby made a dismissive gesture, intent on lock-picking the side window of the pawnshop, located in one of Storybrooke’s only dark alleys between buildings. Belle, nervously, stood just outside it, trying to discreetly make sure no one was watching Ruby clearly attempting to break into the shop.

“No, I’m asking you to stay here and be my lookout while I go into Mr Gold’s shop and recover my property.”

“It’s not your property if you pawned it and never paid to get it back. And it’s stupid to cross Mr Gold over a key-chain, of all things.”

Ruby huffed, trying to keep her hands steady as she worked on the window. Belle was sure she was at least, and at best, tipsy. At midday.

“It’s from Tiffany’s Belle, it’s worth like three hundred bucks. That’s why Mr Gold gave me a hundred and fifty for it. And I was gonna pay it back with my monthly tips, it’s not my fault some jerk grabbed my ass and made me drop a fuckton of plates Granny made me pay for. Also he’s never gonna notice a stupid little key-chain missing, relax.”

The librarian didn’t point out the blatant contradiction in Ruby’s description of the key-chain both as valuable and stupid.

“Why does it have to be me? I’m supposed to open the library for the afternoon shift in like ten minutes. Surely Ariel-”

“Nope, you’re the only person I know who can actually distract Mr Gold in the unfortunate case he arrives early.” Belle scoffed, making Ruby roll her eyes. “The other day I watched him listen as you went on and on about medieval bookbinding techniques, and it wasn’t the first time. Might as well put that ability to good use.”

Finally she shimmied the window open, slipping inside the shop with a lot of elegance for someone that tall and not-sober. Belle pulled her cardigan closer, a cosy suede-coloured knitted one a bit too large for her, which had previously belonged to her mother. She glanced around, trying to not be too obvious as she kept watch. A breeze ruffled her maroon dress, making her glad she had opted for tights instead of stockings in the morning. Still, even with her legs covered and her sturdy cardigan she was freezing, having left her coat and scarf at the library.

“How long is Ruby gonna take?”

She glanced at her watch, fretting over the scant few minutes that she had before she was due to reopen the library, and almost startled in surprise when she heard the telltale sound of a walking stick hitting the pavement. She turned around and looked up, almost running smack into Mr Gold.

“Miss French! Are you okay?”

She let herself enjoy the warm cadence of his voice for a couple of seconds- she was a sucker for accents and his was, without a shadow of a doubt, the best she’d ever heard, especially when he lost control of it.

“Mr Gold!” Belle glanced behind him to where she could see the still open window and beyond someone moving. Ruby, still rummaging for her stupid key-chain. She tried to remember it was a gift of her mother’s, the last one before she had up and left her with Granny. It was important to her, even though she liked to pretend otherwise. 

“Miss French, what an unexpected pleasure.” He seemed a bit confused. “Shouldn’t you be at the library right now, though?”

She tried not to smile too much at the notion that Mr Gold was aware of her schedule, or that he was gentlemanly enough to take off his sunglasses before talking to her. She needed to focus, to think about buying Ruby some time.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you. Perhaps we can go to the library?”

Impulsively, afraid that he would somehow slip past her and into his shop, she grabbed him by the arm, her fingers sliding across the soft wool of his overcoat till she reached the buttons around the cuff. He seemed a bit startled by it but, surprisingly, he didn’t try to shake her off.

“I’m sorry, Miss French, but as much as I’d love to slip into the library for a moment I’m waiting for a shipment that’s supposed to arrive in a few minutes. But if it’s urgent I’ll gladly hear you out.”

He looked at her expectantly, his eyes warm and his entire demeanour friendly and open. It disarmed her, in a way.

“Well, you see, it’s… it’s about that discussion we had the other day? It left me with a few… ideas that I wanted to run by you?”

“I’m always eager to indulge my passions with those who share them with me. So, what do you wish to talk to me about?”

Belle tried not to look and act as guilty as she felt, willing her brain to find a way to get Mr Gold’s attention away from the vicinity of the pawnshop.

“Well, I was rather hoping that we could be somewhere more private for what I… wanted to convey to you.”

He frowned, either confused by her or unhappy to be unable to do as she asked.

“I’m sorry, Miss French, but that’s quite impossible. I’m sorry to disappoint.” Behind him Belle spotted a flash of red. Ruby was beginning to make her way out the tiny window she’d used to break in, having a hard time of it by the looks of it. “I’ll drop by later this afternoon, if you’re amenable. Now I’m afraid that I must-”

He was about to turn around and see Ruby, Belle knew it. Out of ideas and going solely on instinct she let go of his coat sleeve, her hands gripping the top of his shoulders. She had one second to register the look of shock in his face before she pressed her lips to his, with absolutely none of the finesse she liked to think she had acquired in her years as a kisser. He felt stiff underneath her touch, but he did not push her away, which was a relief. In a second she’d pull back and make some sort of excuse and she was sure he’d bend over backwards to reassure her, wishing to soften the blow of his rejection. It should give Ruby enough time to make an exit.

It was a good plan, a solid plan, but she did not count with him softening, head tilting to the side so that their lips locked instead of simply pressing against each other. His left arm slid around her waist, beneath her open cardigan, making her shiver as his gloved fingers curled around the fabric of her dress in order to press her closer. She made a sound between a whimper and a moan, sliding her own hands up towards his hair, a secret obsession of hers. He growled deep in his throat when she raked her fingers across his scalp but otherwise made no protest as she tugged on his hair to get his head to tilt just so. 

She tried to concentrate on what she heard around her, trying to see if she could somehow guess whether Ruby had made it out or not. But it was hard to focus when Mr Gold’s tongue was slipping past her lips and curling against hers, the smell of him- sandalwood, leather and wood polish- making her dizzy. She pressed herself closer, wrapping a leg around his upper thigh in an effort to compensate for their height discrepancy and cursing herself for wearing her three-inch heel booties instead of the five-inch heel knee-high boots she had selected at first in the morning. She corrected herself a moment later, when Gold’s hand slid from around her waist, travelling towards just behind her knee to help her in her newfound determination to climb him like a tree. 

“Hey, this is a public space, keep it PG!”

Leroy’s gruff voice jolted Belle out of the moment, serving as a much-needed bucket of ice water. She pulled back from Mr Gold, their mouths making a deliciously-obscene noise as they separated. She tried bravely to ignore the faint trail of saliva that still linked them both, choosing instead to focus on Ruby, who was staring open-mouthed at her from behind Mr Gold, eyes wide and looking vaguely horrified. Mr Gold himself was harder to read, eyes unfocused and breathing heavy, but she noticed that he still held her close, the hand gripping her thigh sending little shocks of sensation all over her body. She didn’t dare look around, vaguely aware that there were several people around them, all likely staring at them in roughly the same manner as Ruby. Gently, bravely ignoring the way her hand trembled, she combed back Mr Gold’s hair, which she had teased into a veritable mane, and lowered her leg to the ground, making a fuss about smoothing imaginary wrinkles out of his coat as she gathered her remaining wits about them.

“Yes, so… that’s what I wanted to discuss with you.” She sounded scandalously hoarse, and she noticed how it made him tremble beneath her touch. “Perhaps… we can resume this debate later, when you can think of a rebuttal you wish to share.” She adjusted her cardigan around her, gathering her bravery about her like a cloak and adopting what she hoped was a nonchalant attitude, mostly for the benefit of the nosy crowd they’d gathered. “If that’s agreeable with you, Mr Gold?”

The Scotsman said nothing at first, eyes still wide and unfocused. Then he blinked and seemed to jolt out of whatever stupor he was in, looking at her like she wasn’t real. Like she was some sort of apparition or a fairy.

_Like a goddess._

“Yes, that-” he paused, accent so thick it was almost impossible to understand him. _“Yes_.”

She smiled, giving into her need to touch him one last time and adjusting his pocket square.

“Splendid. I look forward to it. Perhaps after the library closes?” He nodded, like a good boy, and she rewarded him with another brilliant smile. “It’s settled. See you later, Mr Gold.”

“Miss French.”

Her name was barely recognisable from beneath the wreckage of his brogue, and she shivered at how rough the accent made him sound. She walked past him, pointedly ignoring Ruby’s unsubtle attempts at catching her attention as she crossed the street, looking forward to a few hours of relative quiet at the library where there was little to do except for shelving books and daydreaming.


End file.
